Title

Sandpaper burnout!

Broad Question

What brands of sandpaper will rip faster?

Specific Question

Is more expensive sandpaper worth buying and seeing which will rip faster

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that 3M pro sandpaper is a better brand than 3M medium brand because of the quality and the durability of the sandpaper.
Rationale: In research I have done I have found that dewalt brand sandpaper is better than walmart brand sandpaper and dewalt a better brand sandpaper than 3M sandpaper. The dewalt is a better sandpaper because they use better material to make it and it costs more than walmart brand and 3M.


Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Different brands of sandpaper

Dependent Variable:

The time it takes for sandpaper to rip. (s)

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

1. A 5lb weight was used to keep equal the pressure on the sander.

2. The same timer was used.

3. All of the pieces of wood were the same size.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

---

---

---

---

General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

1. A problem was keeping the weight on the sander the whole time the solution was to keep it balanced.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

A safety issue I had was using a jig saw and a sander and a drill.

Materials ListItem Name Size Quantity/Description1.Sander Dewalt sander2. Weight 3 lbsCircle plate3. Vacuum Shop Vac4. Plywood (thickness)5. Saw Horses to hold plywood6.Extension cord to extend a cord farther7. Garage to do experiment8.StopwatchPictures

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
dollar tree sandpaper	5 pieces	dollar tree	8.99
home depot sandpaper pro grade	5 pieces	home depot	10.00
home depot sandpaper medium grade	5 pieces	home depot	9.99

Detailed Procedure

1. Gather Materials:
Sander
Three different brands of sandpaper with the same grit, dollar tree, 3M medium, 3M pro.
Three identical pieces of plywood
A stopwatch.
2. Bring all of the listed materials to Colton’s garage.
3. Get horses which are stands to set one piece of the plywood in the middle.
4. Plug the sander in the wall
5. Cut the sandpaper so it fits the bottom of the sander.
6. At the bottom of the sander there are clips that clip in the side of the sander so undo one of the clips and put about a centimeter in and then clamp it shut and do the same to the other side.
7. Turn the sander on by pushing the button on the side of the sander.
8. Turn on the stopwatch and hit start.
9. Start sanding the piece of plywood until the bottom of the sandpaper is bare.
10. When the sandpaper is bare on the bottom it will stop sanding the wood.
11. Record the data when it is done.
12.time each piece of sandpaper.
13. Every time you test each sandpaper change the plywood under it so it might take longer to wear out with a smooth surface than a rough surface.
14. Record data from each sandpaper in a notebook.

Data Table

---

---

---

---

Data Analysis

Graphs

Photos

Drilling to make wood box

Drilling wood box.

Measure wood box

Results

The average of the time to rip was the 3M medium grade which lasted for 161 seconds. The average for the 3M pro was 15 seconds before it ripped. The dollar tree brand ripped at 32 seconds which was better than the most expensive brand. The most expensive brand sandpaper was the worst lasting compared to 3M medium grade and dollar tree brand.

Conclusion

The experiment was to see which brand sandpaper was worth buying and to see if you were getting your moneys worth. The results show that the medium and the worst brand sandpaper lasted longer than the most expensive brand. The best average time for the sandpaper to rip was the 3M medium grade which was at 161 seconds. The second worst was the 3M pro grade which was 32 seconds and the worst was at just 15 seconds.

Discussion

The experiment question was what brands of sandpaper will rip faster when being used. The trials of the experiment determined that some brands were better than others. It was hypothesized that 3M Pro sandpaper is a better brand than 3M Medium brand because of the quality and the durability of the sandpaper. The result of the experiment proved the hypothesis wrong.

The best average time to rip was the 3M medium grade which lasted for 161 seconds. The average for the 3M Pro was 15 seconds before it ripped. The Dollar Tree brand ripped at 32 seconds which was better than the most expensive brand. The most expensive brand sandpaper was the worst lasting compared to 3M medium grade and dollar tree brand. From these results it shows that the hypothesis was not supported, the 3M Pro was the worst performing paper.

There was a strong control in this experiment, there were no mistakes because it had a weight on the sander every trial. Also a platform was used to keep the sander from moving so it wouldn’t move all over the place and not give a true time. The same sander was used to be consistent.The hypothesis was that 3M Pro grade sandpaper was longer lasting and more expensive, this was based on advertising that had been seen. The shortest lasting sandpaper was the most expensive brand. This shows that the most expensive brand is not worth buying because it ripped the fastest. The one that lasted the longest have a thinner paper and that is not what was in research. The most expensive brand had the thickest sandpaper. The most expensive brand might have been not as durable as the thin paper.

The challenges that were in this experiment were how to check and see if the sandpaper was ripped. Things that could have been done better were to find a way how to see if the sandpaper was ripped or not. The challenge was to find a way to hold the sander in place and not have it move around so it wouldn’t be inaccurate. They could have been fixed if there was a little more thought put in the experiment.

There was a platform that was needed to be built to hold the sander in place so that the sander wouldn’t move to make it inaccurate. If the sander moved all around it would not stay in one spot to keep it from it trying to go through all different spots. There was really no special things needed in this experiment.

Our society could benefit with this to not buy a more expensive brand of sandpaper that doesn’t even last as long as a cheaper brand. This shows that some people are trying to rip you off or they just don’t have their paper down. They need to make their paper more durable and long lasting because a lot of people are getting ripped off.

In the future they should try to make the worst brand cheaper and fix it because there is no point in buying it. They should try to invent sandpaper that can be used on two different sides to save paper and money. They should try to do more research and try to fix the durability of the sandpaper.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

The benefit to the community is that buying more expensive sandpaper is always not good. You could buy a cheaper brand and do the same thing for just a lower cost.

References

THD|G|BT1|HighVolumeExact&skwcid=TC|13614|homedepot||S|e|21601746204&gclid=COnr3IO2kLYCFag7Mgod7xMAwQ


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandpaper

__http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/10/7-best-sandpaper-brands-klingspor-vs-norton-vs-3m-in-the-sanding-supplies-showdown__

__http://straightrazorplace.com/workshop/48885-quality-sandpaper.html__

Abstract

The experiment was done to see how long three different brands of sandpaper take to rip. It was hypothesized that 3M pro sandpaper would take longest to rip because advertising. The most expensive brand ripped first and the second most expensive, 3M medium, ripped last. The average of the time to rip was the 3M medium grade which lasted for 161 seconds. The average for the 3M pro was 15 seconds before it ripped. The dollar tree brand ripped at 32 seconds which was better than the most expensive brand. The question was that the 3M medium ripped faster than the dollar tree brand.